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Paul Devine is a wordsmith, a musician, a composer, a scholar, a historian and at heart a humanitarian. The single “Leader of the Free World” (2024) has been born from the stark reality that Donald Trump might win the next North American election, even though he tried to usurp the White House in a coup in front of the whole world and equally is one of the most sexist and slimy humans in the public eye, that has absolutely no remorse for anything he does or says.

The thrumming bass and Devine’s snarled punk vocals, sneer at the propaganda of making America great again through guns, extreme Christianity and perversion of laws. He is the leader of the free world is the sing song chant, because in the end, it as all a joke. Angry guitars and booming drums highlight the truths of how backwards things have become as women have lost rights to their own bodies and racial tension overwhelming.

Not that I think this sounded wholly like The Clash, but I think Joe Strummer is probably sitting somewhere with a smile on his dial. “Leader of the Free World” takes no prisoners and tell no lies. This is a protest, taking a stand against a rising tide of misogyny and intolerance, in the hopes that history does not repeat itself, plus it is an ace song.

Leader of the Free World (2024) | Paul Devine (bandcamp.com)

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Warning… this is a Guns’nRoses free zone! With that said “You Could Be Mine” is a single from Australian band S:Bahn and the second track dropped from the album Love Songs, that will be released on the 12 of April. The band is made up of Dik Detonic (vocals,guitar), Kristian Brenchley (guitar), Rene Schaefer (bass) and Denis Leadbeater (drums), with
additional vocals by Louise Love.

It has been noted that the start of this track is very much inspired by the Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” and indeed it really does have that tone, however it doesn’t stay that way for long, resolving into sounding like The Smithereens. The duet between Detonic and Love was described as Meatloaf like…. mmmm, no. It is decidedly far more like the rugged Aussie intonation of Detonic, dancing with the sweeter vocals of Love. And that might be the crux of this track. It is the Australian indie rock bar song of flirtation and after all, it is from an album called Love Songs. “You Could Be Mine” (back off Axel).

https://sbahn.bandcamp.com/track/you-could-be-mine-3

https://www.facebook.com/SBahnReboot

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Since the late 1990s, Ji Jianhong has been a much vaunted musician of the experimental crowd, especially expressing himself through live recordings, a reflection of his home town Fenghua, in China. Melbourne independent based label, Ramble Records has released Soul Solitary, a two track album which runs for nearly forty-five minutes.

Blasts of chords greet your ears before the free form jazz infused rock guitar leaps forward, sometimes with great vigour causing vocal outbursts. The wave after wave of sound assaults your senses, vibrating and prolonged chords hang in the air searing your brain before becoming a monastic chant, timeless and floating. “Solitary Man” goes from attacking to eerily haunting, with Jianhong the resident ghost heralded by what could be described as Tibetan long horns, yet this is still his guitar. There are moments of listening to the wind that suddenly disintegrate into a maelstrom of noise.

The feedback In “Waterfall” is immense and impressive, stretching forth like a hand searching into the world, and finding thorns and open spaces. Lakes of placid water with creatures below dart around, in their own sphere of existence where the noises from realm filter down muffled and inconsequential. And all the while the waterfall churns the water, oblivious to everything else around it.

What was Li Jianhong thinking about when he recorded these?…well unless you ask the man, then we will never know and I guess this is a part of experimental music. It is mean to provoke and everything is up for interpretation. It is a journey you take with the creator and Solitary Man is engrossing.

Soul Solitary | Li Jianhong | Ramble Records (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/Ramble-Records

https://ramblerecords.com

https://www.clear-spot.nl

Vinyl

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US industrial rock band, Warm Gadget have signed to the label Re:Mission Entertainment and soon will be dropping their new album Sorrows, but for now you can get a taste with the second single “Annoyed,” with a b-side remix by Dread Risks.

The drums of discontent lumber forth, herald in the the heavy bass that blasts your senses, while the vocals are violent, directing you to the maelstrom, coated in bombastic floods of tarred frustration. The Dread Risks remix pulsates with an electronic smirk, pulling off a perfect balance of dance and crushing noise.

Tim Vester (vocals, lyrics, samples) and Colten Tyler Williams (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, programming, production, additional vocals) are bringing on the heavy in a throwback to the late 80s, when industrial metal was taking off and the choice of having Dread Risks doing the remix is the icing on the cake. We are not “Annoyed.”

Annoyed | Warm Gadget | Re:Mission Entertainment (bandcamp.com)

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Music | Dread Risks (bandcamp.com

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http://remissionentertainment.bigcartel.com/

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Nikola Stanojkovski (guitars, bass, synths) and Christopher Cronce (vocals, lyrics) make up Pennsylvania based industrial metal group Agremorta. Their single “Adrocitas” is also their debut and herald’s in the March 15th release of the EP Anomalia.

What strikes me first is the blending of styles within the one track. A combination of clean and heavily growled vocals, plus there are fluid classic guitar solos by Louis Snyder that would not sound astray in Amon Amarth or some other European band of that ilk. The chorus harmonies are a throwback to Linkin Park and tempered by the synths and howling gurgled utterances.

Verbose and powerful guitars, matched with booming rhythms, dynamic vocals and you have “Adrocitas,” a track about self loathing, doubt and never feeling good enough that soars high.

Adrocitas | Agremorta (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/agremorta

https://www.instagram.com/agremorta_official

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The album Crystalline was released in 2023 and spawned the intensely rich single “Bleached,” via the Norwegian and British collaboration of Antipole & Paris Alexander. US based musician, Mareux has taken “Bleached” and given it a 2024 remix treatment.

MAREUX AND ANTIPOLE

The low rumble of electronics perfectly showcases Alexander’s ghost in the machine style whispered vocals. The synths and programmed rhythms, sinuous in their way above the oppressive fuzzed undertones.

There is an unease created with the mechanised mix by Aryan Ashtiani (Mareux), that slowly ignites and bristles with smouldering intent, building on a track that already dripped in sensual tension. “Bleached” remixed by Mareux just proves what great songsmiths Antipole & Paris Alexander are.

Music | Antipole (bandcamp.com)

http://www.facebook.com/antipoleband

Music | Paris Alexander (bandcamp.com)

https://m.facebook.com/parisalexandermusic

Music | Mareux (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/mareux

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Label Negative Gain has dropped the newest single “Necessity Meal” from Florida’s darkwave based Astari Nite, a follow up to their previous Thin White Duke inspired track, “Bowie In Daydream.”

From the beginning, there is an air of tension, set by the stressed and wavering synths, matched by the keening guitar. The vocals tell a tale about not living up to expectations, having fears and even needing drugs in order to appear perfect. Those vocals lilt and melt over you with dark intent, while the drums power on.

On first listen, the track feels off kilter, a loss of control is conveyed, and yet it is this state of honest disclosure that truly brings “Necessity Meal” into focus. It is the seeing beauty in what is not perfect, because in the end, perfection will never fuel creativity. If Bowie had been a goth, I can imagine he might have sounded like Astari Nite.

Necessity Meal | Astari Nite (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/astarinitemusic

https://instagram.com/astarinite43

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ASSASSUN is a relatively new project for German musician Alexander Leonard Donat (aka Vlimmer), with its inception back in 2021. The latest single is “Sling Me Out” off the third ASSASSUN album Post-Climax, out on Blackjack Illuminist Records.

It is evident why ASSASSUN is described as synthpunk, vocals full of sneering contempt and snappy synths. Donat spits out ‘sling me out, sling me out‘ because in the end when you are no longer wanted, what is there left to lose. There is an 80s inspired jauntiness with the electronics dipping into menacing deep tones, and quite frankly it doesn’t get better than this!

Post-Climax | ASSASSUN | Blackjack Illuminist Records (bandcamp.com)

http://www.facebook.com/assassunband

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blackjack-Illuminist-Records

https://www.instagram.com/blackjackilluminist

Stream ASSASSUN – Sling Me Out by Blackjack Illuminist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

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If you had a friend such as Irish actor and wordsmith, Ben Keaton, it would be a no brainer to collaborate on a track, and this is exactly what Lunar Paths have done with the latest single, “New.”

Keaton has written the spoken word poem that tells a story about a relationship where one promised change that could lead to a better life, yet they failed,  falling back into bad habits and violence. The rhythm laid down by Hunter lends itself to a trap feel, while Dubois had looped and extruded shoegaze guitars and clever synths.

The track slow burns, doused in regrets of a life waiting with disappointment over and over again, just like echoes within the music, heightened by the Julie Cruize (Twin Peaks) inspired floating vocals of Dubois. This is in juxtaposition with the very matter-of-fact style of Keaton where there is no candy coating. A reflection of a tale as old as when humans formed relationships,  beautifully executed while picking at your heart strings,  and as they say,  something olde, something “New.”

▶︎ New (feat. Ben Keaton) | Lunar Paths (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/LunarPathsMusic

https://www.lunarpaths.com

https://www.instagram.com/lunar.paths

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The return of Nils Sinatsch’s Neon Insect, has arrived in the form of the latest single “THERE IS BEAUTY IN NOISE.” From Hanover, Germany, the cyberpunk flavoured industrial Neon Insect has a message…”Dictatorships must fall…”.

Laboured electronics greet your ears, as you are plunged into the chaos that is the grating industrialised melody, tortured and extruded, seemingly screeching in metallic convulsions. Sinatsch’s vocals bleed like verbal lacerations on a world that is the noise inhabits.

It is gritty and severe, set in a time of uncertainty, where making noise is the only way to be heard in a world that is already in turmoil. Indeed “THERE IS BEAUTY IN NOISE,” so check out Neon Insect.

THERE IS BEAUTY IN NOISE | Neon Insect (bandcamp.com)

https://facebook.com/neoninsect

https://www.neon-insect.de

https://www.instagram.com/neoninsect